All I Want For Christmas Is A New Code Name
by LarielRomeniel
Summary: Laurel Lance is back from the dead, but the Black Canary can't return. So what can they do about it? One more fluffy submission for the Christmas In July fest on the lot fans livejournal community. Sara x Leonard (established), Ray x Kendra (established).


AUTHOR'S NOTE: A missing scene from "Comfort and Joy," from my "Lost and Found" series. This fits between chapters 1 & 2 of that story, and comes before "Coal In Our Stockings."

And it may eventually lead to something else in this series. I've been trying to figure out a way to do it.

Many thanks to JaelK for looking this over and for making a suggestion that really improved the ending.

As always, I don't own any of it.

* * *

 **Colorado, December 24, 1986**

Len could barely remember the last time he had anything like a traditional Christmas. After all, he was only three at the time.

Not that they were really having one now in this borrowed Colorado chalet. He didn't recall pizza being on the traditional Christmas Eve menu any more than barbecue was. But Sara pointed out that it wasn't _what_ they ate that mattered, it was the company, because Christmas was a time for friends and family.

He'd take her word for it. The only experience he and Lisa had with family wasn't exactly Hallmark material. They'd seen families on TV, but real life had always proven to be a disappointment.

Was _this_ what family looked like? The team was now gathered around the fireplace, roasting marshmallows and trying to one-up each other with tall tales while getting pleasantly buzzed on bourbon or the eggnog Mick had "fortified."

Well, most of them were getting buzzed. Sara, of course, had the tolerance of a man three times her size, and Len was taking it easy so he could keep his earlier promises to her about how they'd be celebrating her birthday later. In private.

Laurel had declined the booze altogether, saying she wasn't ready to see if the Lazarus Pit had cured her alcoholism. And Stein had given Jax grief (again) about being underage.

Having a conscience was trouble enough, but having a mother hen in your head all the time had to be worse, Len thought with some sympathy for the kid.

They'd just finished a round of toasts to Sara's birthday and Laurel's resurrection when Rip announced, "Laurel needs a new code name."

His speech was just a little slurred. "She can't go by Black Canary any more, or it could damage the timeline."

"Having two 'Canaries' could get confusing, too," Jax added. "Too bad Cisco isn't here. He loves doing code names."

"I think we can manage without Mr. Ramon," Stein said, picking up a book from the coffee table. "How about another bird name? We've got a copy of _Birds of the Northwest Hemisphere_ here. Let's see… what about 'Sparrow?'"

Laurel shook her head. "Too much like 'Arrow.'"

"Starling?"

This time Sara objected. "Our home city? Someone could figure out who Laurel is from that."

Ray piped up, "There are lots of birds in ' _The Twelve Days of Christmas_.' Let's see…" He started ticking them off on his fingers. "Swans, geese, calling birds, French hens, turtledoves… and a partridge."

Len threw a marshmallow at him. "Raymond, those suggestions are almost as painful as your singing!" he groaned.

"Oh, I don't know," Jax countered. "There was a pretty badass girl who went by 'Swan' in those old _'Gatchaman'_ cartoons." He shrugged at the looks the team gave him. "What? I like anime." He ducked a few flying marshmallows.

"Gimme that book," Mick rumbled, taking the bird book away from Stein and tossing it across the room. Mick never really had any respect for the printed word. But Len still counted it as a victory that his partner was actually involved in the conversation instead of staring at the fire.

"I've got an idea," Mick said, settling back against his pile of floor pillows. "That bird from those wizard school movies…"

"You mean _'Harry Potter_?'" Kendra suggested helpfully.

" _You_ saw the _'Harry Potter'_ movies, Mick?" Sara asked in surprise.

Len chuckled. "We used to hide out in movie theaters a lot. Nice dark places with big crowds, easy to disappear in. How'd you think I learned all those movie references?"

"Shades of John Dillinger," Stein said with a roll of his eyes.

Len huffed at the comparison and shook a finger at the professor. "But _we_ never got caught."

"Mick, please tell me you don't mean Harry's owl," Laurel pleaded, "because she died. Been there, done that."

"So have I," said Sara with a shrug.

"Me too. Lots of times," added Kendra.

Rip let out a bark of laughter. "Gentlemen, did any of you realize before now that our three ladies are more badass than the rest of us put together?"

The ladies all looked smug. Len smirked, gave Sara a little squeeze and said, "Sure. Love it when they go all bird of prey on each other in the workout room."

"That _is_ a thing of beauty," Ray agreed, giving his own girlfriend a peck on the cheek before holding his glass of eggnog up as if for another toast.

Len nodded and tapped his glass against Ray's. After a sip of his bourbon, he inclined his head at Rip. "But _you_ are never to use the word 'badass' again. It's probably the only word in the English language that sounds worse with a British accent!"

"What? Badass?" Rip tried imitating Len's drawl, and only succeeded in sounding even worse. Laughter swept the circle.

Laurel wiped her eyes as she caught her breath. "I still want to hear Mick's idea!"

"I forget the name now. You people made me lose my train of thought," Mick complained.

"It's hardly a long train to begin with," the professor jibed. But he was smiling as he said it.

Mick smirked and gave him a nod of grudging respect before going on. "It's the bird that burns, dies and gets reborn from the ashes," he said.

"The Phoenix?" Laurel asked. She looked over at her sister, who nodded slowly.

"I like it," Sara said. "It's not taken already, is it?"

Rip looked pensive. "Not on this Earth."

Len leaned forward. " _This_ Earth?"

Stein answered with a nod. "Do you remember Zoom and all the trouble he was causing in Central City before we left on our mission?"

Len nodded. "Sure. Kept the Flash off our backs," he said, with a little emphasis on _"Flash."_ He hoped the professor would take the hint. Len had kept Barry's secret so far, and he wasn't about to go back on his promise.

"Yes, well, Zoom is from another Earth. A parallel Earth, if you will," Stein said. "There is a multiverse of parallel Earths where each of us could be someone completely different. For example, on another Earth I might be a rabbi instead of a physicist. Jefferson, you might be a professional football player on another Earth."

"I'm down with that," Jax grinned.

"And Mr. Snart, you might be mayor of Central City."

Len snorted. "Too much paperwork."

"And there could be a Phoenix on one of those other Earths," Stein concluded.

"Too much thinking for this much drinking!" Mick protested.

Ray raised his hand. "All right, I move we adopt 'Phoenix' as Laurel's new code name. All in favor?"

Figured the Boy Scout would resort to parliamentary procedure. But everyone played along; there was a chorus of "ayes" around the room. "A toast to our newest Legend, the Phoenix!"

Laurel stood and bowed slightly before plopping back into her space between Mick and Sara. "I guess this means a new outfit."

Sara elbowed her sister. "You're such a clotheshorse!" she teased.

"Maybe something the color of flames," Kendra suggested. "Orange and red."

Mick's eyes lit up at that idea. "Can we get Ramon to make her a Heat Gun too? That would be so cool!"

"Don't you mean hot?" Jax grinned.

"That too," Mick agreed, popping a roasted marshmallow in his mouth.

"Laurel can't go back to present-day Central City any more than she can go back to Star City," Rip warned. "Besides, between you and Firestorm, I think we have enough fire hazards aboard the Waverider."

"Guns aren't really my style anyway," Laurel said. "I can use a pistol pretty well, but I'm not so sure about something bigger than that. I'd like to get a new pair of tonfa, though." Her expression became wistful. "Rip, will there ever come a time when I _can_ go back?"

The former Time Master leaned forward in his seat, steepling his fingertips to think for a bit. Finally he said, "It depends on whether the fixed point is actually the death of Laurel Lance, or the death of the Black Canary. I've never asked Gideon for that kind of analysis. It may be that you _can_ go back as the Phoenix."

Laurel's eyes brightened, and Len felt a tremor of excitement go through Sara next to him. He knew she had fretted over whether they could ever go home for a visit without letting the news about Laurel slip. It had worried him, too.

Rip held up his hands. "I don't want to make any promises I cannot keep," he told the sisters. "But we will try."

"We've always said this trip was about changing our destinies," Kendra said. "We've already changed Laurel's."

"Changing destiny is just another day at the office for this bunch," Ray agreed.

Rip looked around at the group. "I know all of you left behind friends and loved ones…" He faltered a little as he caught Mick's eye, knowing Mick was the one exception to that statement. He continued when the big man gave him a nod. "Laurel, I promised to return all of them, and I promise I will do the best I can for you."

The words were barely out of his mouth before Laurel was up again and hugging him. Len grinned at the former Time Master's discomfort; Rip was usually as disinclined toward physical contact as Len himself had been... and still was, with anyone but Sara. And maybe the occasional exception for Laurel now.

Laurel pulled away from Rip before the man could start hyperventilating. "Thank you," she said.

She settled back into her seat next to Mick. "And thanks for the code name." She leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. Len had to smirk at the bit of color that crept into Mick's cheeks at that.

Rip coughed a little, his stiff upper lip returning. "But if we don't succeed, Laurel, I can offer you this family." He spread his hands to indicate the group. "As dysfunctional as it is."

Len and Mick both chuckled at that. "Compared to our families, this bunch is ' _The Waltons_ ,'" Len said.

Mick glanced over at him. "That make you John-Boy?"

Another wave of laughter ran around the circle. Stein raised his glass for another toast. "To the Waverider family!"

As the toast was echoed by the others, Len looked at the smiles around him. Ray and Kendra were cuddled together. Mick passed another roasted marshmallow to Jax. Sara and Laurel were leaning against each other next to him, Sara smiling widely as Laurel whispered something into her ear. He caught Stein's gaze, and the professor gave him a little smile and a tip of the head.

Even Rip didn't look as haunted as usual.

Maybe this _was_ what family looked like.

As Sara snuggled back against his side to lay her head on his shoulder, he decided he could learn to like it.

* * *

One more thing I want to note. This is my 30th work in this fandom (some are only posted on AO3 and LiveJournal due to explicit content). That's since APRIL. And this is after having been out of fanfic writing for several years.

I only wrote 33 total fics in the Who fandom over a period of several years. (Granted, they included one 30-chapter fix-it, and my LoT works include many shorter stories.)

I think we can all agree there's just something magical about this particular set of characters, no matter what your favorite 'ship might be.

Many thanks to all the wonderful writers in this fandom who have inspired me. And thanks also of you who've left kudos and who have fed my comment cravings. (And I'll be shameless and ask for you to do so again.)


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